Tag Archives: bandwagon

Late last year, my eyes have been opened to a really funny issue that’s been hogging blogs, forums and even facebook fan pages for quite a while – the war between the (feeling) sosyal, and the (trying hard) pa-sosyal.

It seems that the bandwagon phenomenon has irked some self-proclaimed rightful consumers of goods, services, and even personal interests that they have waged a personal vendetta to “expose” the sosyal wannabe’s for who they really are. They’ve been called many things including pa-sosyal, poser, social climbers, trying hard, jologs etc. Personally, I find it funny and pathetic.

So…what bandwagon, you ask?

Well, the first I knew of was the DSLR fever. I’m sure everyone has caught the “Hindi porket may DSLR ka, photographer ka na” fan page on facebook. And then came the Starbucks issue, Havianas, Crocs, iPhone and Blackberry, Mac/ Apple products, dogs!, Boracay…and the list goes on. Oh, wait, I forgot, even firecrackers and the Baguio fake snow has recently been included in the list of bandwagons. And taking up nursing! The issue (as the feeling true sosyals have put it) was that everyone seems to be wanting to buy, do, have, wear the uso even though they can’t afford it or just because they want to feel that they belong.

But really, what’s the issue again? I think, the real issue is that, the (feeling) true sosyals feel that because these status symbols have become available and affordable to everyone, that they have lost their meaning in lifting up one’s status in the society. Therefore, if they go to Starbucks, or are sporting the newly released Havaianas, they are no longer a cut above the rest, but are (viewed) as jologs or as pa-sosyal as the people at the next table.

My take on this? The ones who have branded people who ride the bandwagon as social climbers, are the very ones who consider them as status symbols. They are actually in the same bandwagon as everyone else although they may not realize, or just refuse to accept it. Ergo, it’s a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black.

*Lara thinks that no one is more privileged to have coffee at Starbucks